Superhero no Jutsu
by The Bookworm's Magician
Summary: Naruto had lived in a world of superheroes for as long as he could remember. He'd just never expected to be one. AU.


**Title:** Superhero no Jutsu

**Author:** The Bookworm's Magician

**Beta: **Esther-Channah

**Rating:** T

**Character/s:** Everyone

**Pairing/s:** None… yet.

**Spoilers:** For the whole series, pretty much.

**Summary:** Naruto had lived in a world of superheroes for as long as he could remember. He'd just never expected to be one.

**Disclaimer:** I don't own this, I never have and I never will.

**AN:** I put full blame on Rift Ninja for this!

* * *

**Superhero no Jutsu**

It was a beautiful day in the valley. The birds were singing, the sun was shining, the river was meandering peacefully, and the statues were silent sentinels over it all. The peace was practically smothering… until it was shattered by the sudden appearance of a person. It was a boy, dressed all in black, with a red and white fan on his back. He was wearing a black domino mask over his eyes.

He looked around for a moment to gain his bearings, before he turned around and walked away from the statues. He walked for several moments before he stopped and looking up in surprise. The sky was getting dark, and storm clouds were gathering overhead. He sighed and turned around in resignation.

Another boy was standing behind him, this one wearing a bright orange jumpsuit with a red spiral on his back. He wore an identical black domino mask over his eyes. His bright blonde hair waved in the sudden wind, as he walked toward the boy in black, not stopping until he was only a few feet away. The first raindrop fell as they stared daggers at each other.

"Eye, you have to stop this. You're being stupid!" The boy in black—Eye—glared at the blond boy.

"Well, you would know, wouldn't you!" He ignored Eye's caustic words.

"Eye, he's the _Body-Stealer!_ Who knows what he'll do to you-"

"Shut up, Whirlwind! You don't know what you're talking about! _I have to do this!_"

"I can't let you do this, Eye! I'm going to stop you!" Whirlwind clenched his fists, glaring at Eye.

Eye scoffed at him.

"Please. I bet that you can't even take off my mask."

"I'll take that bet!" With that, the two boys sprang at each other and started fighting, their moves faster than the eye could see. When they came back into view, both of them were soaked from the rain and sporting numerous cuts and bruises. Whirlwind was holding his side and glaring harshly at Eye. Suddenly, it started to hail—just on Eye. He squawked and glared at Whirlwind, trying to avoid the hail. It followed him.

"Whirlwind, stop that!" Whirlwind smirked at him, trying not to laugh as Eye cowered from the hail.

"Sorry, Eye! You know I can't control it!" Eye growled at him and lunged, and they were off again.

They finally stopped almost five minutes later. Whirlwind's ribs were obviously hurting him, and so was Eye's leg. They panted for a few moments before Eye, keeping the weight off of his leg, glared at Whirlwind.

"I'm getting tired of this! Stand down now or I _will_ kill you!" Whirlwind glared at him as well.

"You're my best friend, Eye! I won't let you do this!" He held his hands ready at his sides, ignoring the pain, and glaring at Eye in determination… then blinked when Eye gaped at him. "What? What's wrong?" Whirlwind looked around frantically, only to pause as he felt a foreign buzzing in his hands. He looked down and stared in blank surprise.

He was holding a swirling ball of energy in each hand.

"_What?"_ Whirlwind looked at Eye, both of them completely stunned. Whirlwind wasn't an energy user. How was this possible? Eye forced himself to snap out of it. They didn't have the time.

"It doesn't matter; I'll still beat you. I guess I can just get serious now." With that, Eye activated one of the powers he had recently copied. With deadly blue electricity swirling around his hand, he ran at Whirlwind.

Whirlwind instinctively threw one of the energy balls at Eye. It missed, and Eye thrust the energy filled hand through Whirlwind's guard. Whirlwind gasped in shock and pain as Eye's hand pierced his chest, and he grabbed Eye's wrist with his free hand. His other hand, still filled with the energy ball, came up and hit Eye in the face.

Eye was thrown back almost fifteen feet, his mask shredded and falling to pieces. Whirlwind collapsed with a pain-filled gasp as Eye slowly got up and limped over to his best friend's body. Whirlwind was clutching at the hole in his chest, trying to stop the bleeding, but he looked up as Eye stood over him. Their eyes met. Eye's red eyes slowly faded to black, and while Whirlwind's eyes were still covered by his mask. Surprisingly, Whirlwind found the strength to laugh.

"What's so funny, you idiot? You're dying!" Whirlwind smiled up at him, pausing only to cough up some blood.

"I'm laughing… because… I won our bet, Sasuke. I… got… your… mask…" With that Whirlwind lost consciousness. Sasuke just _stared_ at him for a moment. Whirlwind really was an idiot. Sasuke sighed and knelt down next to him.

"I'm sorry, Naruto. I have to do this." Sasuke reached out and pressed the panic button sewn into Naruto's sleeve, pulling back and watching as Naruto dematerialized. When Naruto was fully gone, Sasuke got to his feet with a groan and slowly limped out of the valley. He didn't look back.

* * *

Blossom sighed as she looked through the observation window. Whirlwind was awake and already bothering the Healer, ignoring attempts to check on his wound as he joked and laughed. Finally, the Healer was done, and she spoke to him one last time before making her way to the door. His eyes followed her, and when he saw Blossom at the window he waved cheerfully.

She sighed again and turned to the Healer.

"How is he?"

The Healer sighed and crossed her arms under her rather large bust, ignoring the random orderly passing out from blood loss via nosebleed.

"He's much better. His super-speed sped up the healing process as always, but even so…" The Healer sighed again. "If he hadn't pressed his panic button when he had, he'd be dead right now."

Blossom sighed as well and turned to look at him, tucking her pink hair behind her ear as she did.

Whirlwind had been watching them talk, and when Blossom turned to him, he grinned happily at her. Blossom sighed (again! She'd never sighed this much until she'd become part of Team 7) and turned back to the Healer.

"Thank you so much for helping him. If you hadn't, he'd be dead, and it would be _his_ fault." Blossom shuddered at the thought.

The Healer laid a heavy hand on her shoulder.

"Don't think like that, okay? He's here, he's alive, and he wants to talk to you, so go. Take care of yourself, Blossom. I think that I'll be seeing you soon." With that, the Healer strode down the hall toward her next patient. Blossom stared after her in puzzlement before walking into Whirlwind's room.

"Blossom!" Whirlwind was obviously delighted to see her. "How have you been? I'm so glad to see you! I've been so _bored_! How's Copy-Cat-sensei?" Whirlwind was practically jumping up and down in excitement. Blossom whacked him on the shoulder.

"Ow! What was that for?" He was rubbing his arm and glaring at her.

She whacked him again for good measure.

"For being an idiot! Why are you such an idiot? What possessed you to go after _him_? You almost died!"

"Relax, Blossom! I'm _fine_. And I went after him because I promised you that I would bring him back—and because he's my best friend. I had to try!"

Blossom studied him for a moment, seeing the determination on his face, before sighing _again_ and giving in.

"All right. Whatever. Just _promise_ me that you won't do anything this stupid again, okay?"

"Sorry, Blossom. I already promised to bring him back, remember? And that was the promise of a lifetime! I _will_ bring him back! Believe it!" Blossom just looked at him, taking in the thumbs-up and the enthusiastic face. She sighed.

Then she hit him.

"What was that for!" He was glaring at her now.

"Idiot!" she hissed at him, then stalked out of the room.

She paused outside the door as it closed, just long enough to hear him yell "Ow!" She nodded in satisfaction. Then she stormed down the hallway, ignoring the people scrambling to get out of her way, and brushed away angry, grief-filled tears as she went; mourning the best friend she'd lost to the darkness, and the best friend she was losing to a promise she hadn't thought he'd try to keep.


End file.
